Background of the Organisation

The Rural Development Society was established under the patronage of renowned social worker Late Rt. Rev. Santosh Kumar Kisku, Bishop of the Diocese of Durgapur, Church of North India in Bankura district of West Bengal state under the Chhotonagpur plateau in 1977. Since its formation Rural Development Society is working for the development of poor and weaker section of the people. In the beginning the society started a. The most ambitious mission of the organization is to strengthen the struggles of rural poor oppressed exploited people of under privileged backward Page 3 of 8 communities for their empowerment and survival by developing alternative means of livelihood with the full access to education, health care, shelter, safe drinking water and sanitation, income generating facilities, gender equity, availability of basic human rights and self help initiatives

Vision

The RDS visualizes an egalitarian civil society free from exploitation, oppression that involves all section of people irrespective of caste creed religion in the all round development of the people, for the people, by the people.

Mission

The mission of the organization is to strengthen the struggles of rural poor oppressed exploited people of under privileged backward communities for their empowerment and survival by developing alternative means of livelihood with the full access to education, health care, shelter, safe drinking water and sanitation, income generating facilities, gender equity, availability of basic human rights and self help initiatives.

Objectives

• To provide basic education to underprivileged children and mainstreaming in the civil society
• To undertake community based basic health care programmes, water and sanitation programmes, prevention and control of HIV/AIDS etc.
• To undertake agriculture reform and socio-economic development activities

• To promote community organizations, women's organizations, net working for advocacy and lobbying for the empowerment of reference communities
• To facilitate women self help group formation, motivation for small savings and micro finance support for poverty alleviation, livelihood development and gender equity
• To undertake community based natural resources and environment development initiatives for enhancing employment and income earning opportunities to the rural poor
• To help the poor students, orphans, handicapped, aged, sick, helpless and indigent persons
• To set up and run vocational training centres for youth and women on various vocations, model education centres and schools, technical institutes, old age homes and day care centres for older persons, short stay homes for distressed women, working women's hostel, eco tourism village and renewable energy park
• To undertake community based initiatives for development of environment and ecology, national integration and communal harmony, peace and gender justice
• To sensitize and make aware people about basic human rights, rights of women, child rights
• To eliminate child labour system and rehabilitation through education and vocational training
• To establish and run university for tribal and indigenous community, particularly for "Santali" speaking students etc.

Strategy

We believe in peoples' participatory approach in all stages of our development initiatives. Our strategy is to adopt rural development planning and action programme through study-cum-survey with the active peoples' participatory approach.

Strategic Thrust Areas

Project Area

Bankura, Purulia, Bardhaman, Purba & Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram and North 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal State.

Target Groups

Women, children, small and marginal farmers, land less agricultural labourers and other disadvantaged under privileged sections of OBC, Scheduled Caste, Tribal and Indigenous Communities.